Popcorn Love by KL Hughes Page A

face so close to her that
they were nearly touching. His eyes blew wide the moment his gaze
locked with hers, and Lucas burst into a wild fit of giggles,
clutching his belly. “Hi Momma!”
    “Good morning munchkin.” She reached out and palmed
his cheek.
    “Time to get up!” Lucas leaned into his mother’s
touch. “Time to go to Gram’s!”
    Confused, Elena glanced at the clock on her bedside
table. It was barely after seven, which was late for a work day.
She started to jolt out of bed before remembering.
    “It’s Sunday, baby,” she said. “Momma doesn’t work on
Sunday, remember?”
    Lucas’s eyes widened. “Just me and you?”
    The sight of his smile made her heart swell. She
hoped her son would always show such enthusiasm about spending
entire days with her. Lucas adored his grandparents and the time he
spent with them each weekday, but he was a Momma’s boy through and
through. Elena was his “most favoritest person” in the world and
that was why the weekends, Sundays in particular, were his favorite
days.
    “Just you and me,” Elena whispered, tapping her index
finger on the tip of Lucas’s nose.
    He clapped his hands happily. “Where we going,
Momma?”
    Elena rolled onto her back and stretched her limbs,
groaning as she did so, then laughing when Lucas began to imitate
her. He scooted down on the mattress and threw his arms over his
head, then groaned and grunted as he twisted about, opening his
mouth wide in a fake yawn and scrunching his eyes closed.
    His mocking sounds quickly turned into shrieks,
though, when Elena suddenly turned and pounced on him, her fingers
finding home just under his arms. She tickled his sides while he
squealed and tried to wriggle away from her. She let up after only
a moment so as to avoid any accidents on her bed and planted a
loud, smacking kiss on his forehead before slipping out of bed and
pulling her robe on over her night gown.
    “Where would you like to go today?” She
motioned for him to vacate the bed so she could make it up and he
crawled across the top of the bed, latching onto Elena’s hands, so
that she could help him slide down. “I wanna see the dinosaur
bones!”
    “Of course you do,” Elena said.
    “Can we?”
    “Of course we can.” She reached down to stroke the
back of his head before moving around to the other side of the bed
to adjust the sheets and blankets. “We will go after breakfast,
okay?”
    “Okay!” Pumping his fist into the air, he took off in
a wobbly sprint down the hallway and toward the kitchen.
    Elena ran a hand through her hair as she followed her
son through the house.
     
    * * *
     
    The sudden, surprising blare of her phone nearly
caused Elena to bump her head against the door frame as she
strapped Lucas into his car seat. Once she got everything buckled,
she pulled her phone from her purse and rolled her eyes as she saw
Vivian’s face light up the screen.
    “Hello darling!” Vivian’s voice echoed through the
line as soon as Elena accepted the call. “How was your incredibly
sexy date last night?”
    “Incredibly disappointing,” Elena said. “In fact, he
was so disappointing that I have determined to despise you
for a minimum of one week.”
    “Wow, a whole week?” Vivian gasped. “What did he do?
Proposition you for sex before dinner?”
    Elena slipped into the driver’s seat and buckled her
belt. “Make it two weeks,” she huffed.
    “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. I thought he was sexy.”
Vivian chuckled. “What went wrong?”
    “He was decently attractive,” Elena admitted. “Until
he opened his mouth.”
    “Are you sure you weren’t looking for reasons not to
like him?”
    “Please. Give me a bit of credit, Viv. The man
attempted to order for me and then suggested that my disinterest in
him doing so was due to the vast lack of pampering in my life.”
    Vivian snorted into the phone. “Wow. That is just
sad.”
    “Where did you even find him?” Elena asked.
    “Where else?” Vivian asked.